The Strange Adventures of Brownie & Wolf-Girl
by Fire.Blazing.In.Her.Eyes
Summary: At first it was fun. No school, no work. But they start to lose a sense of who they are, and ghost stories told 'round a campfire start to seem more and more real. As ranks start to fall, her grip on reality becomes looser and looser, and the one person who is usually there for her is no where to be found./ A girl-on-the-island. Rated T for violence, gore, & some sexuality.


_**-Chapter 1-**_

_The Crash_

Somewhere in the distance, a bird gave a shrill cry, echoing and reverberating throughout her head. She slowly opened her pale blue eyes, drinking in her strange and unfamiliar surroundings. A few yards away from there was a thick green jungle, wild and untamed, with trees and vines overlapping and growing close together; that stretched in all directions. To her right a long section of trees had been knocked over and crushed, and it was littered with debris. The girl mused to herself about the cause of such a scar, and she came to the conclusion that something huge and heavy had crashed into it, though no such object was to be seen.

_Crash._

This simple word resonated around her brain, and in a rush she remembered everything. Her knuckles, white against the arms of the chair. The heat of the fire, and her stomach doing somersaults. The pure weightlessness of falling, careening out of the sky like a shot duck. That was what they were, really. A giant metal duck, it's sides littered with bullets. She vaguely remembered gasping for air as she swam towards the white shore, the screams and shouts for help all around her. She recalled someone swimming beside her, breathing heavily, her own fear reflected in the other girl. She clumsily raised herself onto her hands and knees, and was suddenly painfully aware of a stabbing pain in her head and in her upper thigh. The pain in her head, she concluded, was a headache. But as of the pain in her leg, she was stumped. She slowly clambered up into a standing position, her knees quavering slightly. She gingerly groped her upper thigh, and was puzzled by a strange lump. She grabbed the handle of this object and drew it out, wincing as the pointed edge was dug out from her skin. This, of course, would explain the pain. The mysterious object was..a knife? Further inspection showed her that the knife had been attached to a belt underneath her skirt, which puzzled even more. Why was she carrying a knife? In a start, she realized who she was. Hazel Louise Jones, the tall and lithe girl who had fled from her home in Manchester, away from the bombs. The girl who, since the war started and the streets were no longer safe, had always kept a knife on her. She remembered her family sending her away, her fright when the planes had filled up. The frantic rush to find one with space, her hand gripped tightly in her friend, Katherine's. Where _was_ Katherine? Hazel took a few shaky steps backwards, and was startled by a splash, and her shoes filling with water. She turned around, the ocean was just behind her. She sniffed and removed her now-dripping foot from the water and placed her hand on her hips, staring at her blurred reflection in the crystal-clear waters. Her long, oval-shaped face, with a few brown freckles on her nose, was framed by tangled platinum blonde hair with an odd silver tinge, which stopped just above her elbows (As you can tell, her name was a rather rude oxymoron, as not a single part of her was hazel.). She was wearing a rather dirty and slightly torn(from the crash, she supposed) white blouse with a black sweater pullover, of which the latter was discarded immediately, for it became heavy in the tropical heat. She absentmindedly rubbed the edge of her red and black plaid skirt, which was just as muddy and torn as her blouse. One black sock was bunched on her ankle, and she jerked it up automatically, out of habit. She was, in a strange sort of way, kind of pretty. Her headache had finally subdued, and was now only an annoyance, so she walked away from the water and peered up the beach. A wobbly black shadow caught her eye, and she blinked and rubbed her eyes. The mirage subdued slightly and the shadow stumbled closer, and Hazel walked over to meet it. As the two got closer, Hazel smiled in recognition at the dark brown curls of the shadow, and she increased her pace, running to meet it. She threw her arms around the girl-shadow's arms, and the two were locked in embrace. The girl-shadow drew back, revealing itself to be Katherine. Hazel grinned and exhaled, staring at her friend's sheepish smile.

"I thought..I thought you were.."Hazel trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence.

"I know. I thought so, too," said Katherine solemnly, as the two walked up the beach.

"I think we're alone," she said quietly, "I know the pilot didn't make it, I saw his body back there. Unless some of the others survived, we're on our own."

Hazel simply nodded and the two continued in worried silence.

"Oi, it's bloody hot out 'ere!" cried Hazel finally, breaking the lengthy pause, "Wanna swim?" Not waiting for an answer, she quickly shed her clothes and jumped into the surf, diving and swimming in the sparkling water. Katherine smiled to herself and peeled off her shoes and socks, placing them next to Hazel's clothes. She walked over carefully, slowly walking ankle-deep into the water. Hazel turned to her and grinned, "Come on, Brownie!" she cried, referring to Katherine's nickname, "It's really shallow." 'Brownie' simply sniffed indignantly and refused to move, staring up at the blue sky. She remembered that Hazel had given her that nickname when they had first met, referring to her very 'brown' complexion. Brown hair, brown skin, brown eyes. As she proceeded to daydream, the two girls heard a long, booming note that rumbled and echoed throughout the island. Brownie sat up at once, her confusion echoed in Hazel's eyes. The loud booming sounded again, this time in a series of short blasts. Hazel hurriedly scurried out of the water like a frightened mouse and pulled her clothes back on, not bothering to dry off.

"Come on, let's go figure out what tha' is!" she cried. Brownie bit her lip and walked slowly out of the water, "I don't think that's a very good idea..." she said, her voice trailing off. Hazel rolled her eyes and grabbed Brownie by the wrist, dragging her towards the sound, "If anything, it's a ship, come to rescue us!" Brownie remained silent, though she secretly highly doubted that. The girls progressed up the beach, Brownie in tow, until they came to a strange sort of platform, where a rather large group of boys were gathering, presumably following the noise. The two girls clambered up the side of the platform, and were greeted with a lot of double-takes. Brownie shrank away from all the attention, but Hazel simply lifted her head higher and challenged their gazes, making them turn away. Their attention was soon diverted as a rather overweight boy with large glasses walked over to them dutifully.

"What's your names?" he asked, looking them over.

"What's it to you?" sneered Hazel, making the boy shrink back slightly. Brownie exhaled loudly, expressing her annoyance, and pushed Hazel back, "I'm Katherine-" she started.

"Her name's Brownie!" chimed in Hazel, grinning at her. Brownie glared at her and continued,

"-And that's Hazel," she finished. The boy nodded and walked over to the next group, muttering the girls' names under his breath. The two took notice of the other boys' examples and seated themselves on a log. Katherine's eyes drifted over to the tall boy with fair hair who stood towards the front of the platform, holding a conch. Katherine presumed this shell was the cause of the sound, and studied the boy's face. He was rather attractive, she concluded. The boy met her gaze and smiled, Brownie colored slightly and smiled shyly back, and the boy's eyes averted to something in the distance, which caused him to frown. Brownie followed his gaze and was puzzled by several shadows in the distance, coming towards them in two parallel lines. As the 'shadows' came closer, she was able to identify them, not as shadows, but as a group of boys, dressed in ankle-length black robes and square caps. Brownie poked Hazel in the ribs and pointed, Hazel narrowed her eyes at this strange sight.

"Are they...are they _singing_?!" she cried, incredulous. Indeed they were, their voices rising and falling in a peaceful manner, like the gentle swell of a growing wave.

"I guess they're a choir..?" whispered Brownie, and the choir group climbed the platform. The one that seemed like the leader of the group looked around at the rest of them, squinting.

"Where's the man with the trumpet?" he drawled, with the air of one used to being listened to.

"There's no man with a trumpet," said the fair-haired boy mildly, unfazed by his arrogance, "Only me." The taller boy sniffed disdainfully and ran a hand through his messy red hair, which hung just above his eyes, a piercing light blue color. Brownie raised her eyebrows skeptically and turned to Hazel, who, to her own surprise, was staring at the tall boy with a mixture of admiration and adoration, her eyes shining.

"Isn't there a ship, then? Or any grown ups?" the red-haired boy persisted, slightly annoyed.

"No. We're having a meeting. Come join us."

At this moment, one of the boys in the choir fell flat on his face onto the sand with a thud, fainting dead away. This raised a considerable buzz, and the boys nearest to him picked him up and dragged him into the shade, propping him up against a tree.

"Alrigh', let 'im alone. Simon's always throwin' a faint," said the boy, sneering. He looked over at the other members of the choir, who were red-faced and sweaty in their black robes, and looked like they might faint as well.

"Right, choir, take off yer togs. And sit down, too," he said, as an afterthought. A collective sigh of relief arose, and black robes and caps were thrown aside, and the boys seated themselves on a fallen tree.

"Guess we're all alone 'ere. We'll just have look after ourselves, then," said the tall boy airily.

"T-that's why Ralph called the meeting," ventured the pudgy boy, his voice quavering slightly, "To figure out what we're going to do. We've got names," he offered hopefully; "Those two, they're twins. Sam 'n Eric. No, er, Eric 'n Sam. Oh, I don't know, I can't tell the difference."

Red-hair rolled his eyes,

"Nobody cares, Fatty."

This was greeted by a large uproar of laughter, but Ralph shouted over the commotion,

"His names not Fatty, it's Piggy!"

At this, everyone practically fell over themselves laughing, but Brownie sat rigid, looking at 'Piggy' with remorse.

Piggy stuttered a little, and tried one more feeble attempt,

"An'...and that's, uh, Katherine. And Hazel," he said, motioning to the two girls. All eyes turned to look at them, and Brownie could feel her cheeks flushing. Hazel remained unfazed, a cocky sort of smile on her lips.

"Some girls, huh?" said red-head, looking the two of them over, "Weren't there more of you?"

"They died in the crash, I suppose. Prob'ly drowned," said Hazel nonchalantly, stretching. It was painfully obvious (at least, it was to Brownie) that she was trying to impress this boy.

"Oh. Well, I'm Jack. Jack Merridew," he said, drawing himself up a little. Turning to the boy with fair hair, he questioned; "What's your name?"

"Ralph," he said simply, meeting Jack's gaze. He smiled slightly, and there was a hope of friendship between them. A hint of a smile played at Jack's lips, but it quickly vanished and he turned around, introducing the choir. There was Maurice, a cheerful-looking boy who grinned brightly at everyone, Roger, a dark and quiet boy with dark brown hair and ruddy brown-gray eyes, Bill, Robert, Henry, Harold, and, of course, the boy who had fainted (who was now awake) smiled pallidly and identified himself as Simon.

Someone spoke up from the crowd,

"What're we gonna do about being rescued?"

This caused a large buzz, where many ideas of escape where swapped, each of them as unlikely as the next, and several of the little boys whimpered and said they wanted to go home.

"Shut up," said Jack testily, and everyone was quiet. Ralph cleared his throat,

"Seems to me we should have a chief, to decide things."

"I ought to be chief," said Jack haughtily, "because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. And I can sing C sharp."

Katherine giggled to herself behind her hand at this boy's simple arrogance, yet she was annoyed by Hazel's entranced expression. There was a commotion again, with boys proposing why _they_ should be chief.Roger stirred and spoke up,

"Let's have a vote."

"Yes!"

"A vote!"

Ralph raised his hand for silence.

"Alright then. Who wants Jack for chief?"

The choir raised their hands obediently (and rather resentfully), and Hazel raised her hand high as well. Katherine stared at her, her mouth slightly agape. This boy was arrogant and rude, and yet Hazel was acting as if he was the Messiah. Jack saw Hazel's hand and grinned at her, and she blushed profusely.

"Who wants me?"

The rest raised their hands, the majority of the group. There was no need to count, it was clear Ralph had won.

"I guess I'm chief then," he said, and Jack's freckles disappeared in an angry blush. Ralph noticed this, and added,

"The choir's yours, of course. They could be an army, or something like that. Whatever you want them to be."

Jack considered this for a moment, and decided,

"Hunters." Some of the choir looked at him and each other with mixed expressions of surprise and dread, evidently not all of them wished to hunt. Ralph thought for a minute,

"We ought to go on an expedition, to see if we're actually on an island. If we're not, we'll get rescued a lot quicker. So three of us will go, otherwise we'll get mixed up and lose each other," he mused, more to himself than to the group, "So I'll go, and Jack,and..." he paused, looking around at all the eager faces of the many boys around him. His eyes rested on Katherine for a moment, but she smiled shyly and shook her head, to show him that she was not needed. The corners of his mouth turned upward politely, and he settled on someone else.

"-And Simon."

The selected boys gathered and started their trek around the land, chattering to one another. The group that was left dispersed, ignoring Piggy's feeble requests to stay together. Brownie and Hazel wandered into the forests, talking amongst themselves. Hazel stooped down and picked up a ripe fruit from underneath a tree, one that must have just fallen. She took a large bite and chewed thoughtfully, wiping away the juice that was dribbling down her chin.

"That Jack.." she said wistfully, her voice trailing off, "He is so, _so_ cute." She stared dreamily into the forest, her eyes misted over.

"Uh...I g-guess so...?" said Katherine uncertainly, giving Hazel a strange look. "He seemed kinda..mean."

Hazel waved this off, taking another bite of the fruit. The two sat down, side by side, on a patch of grass in the shade, where Hazel promptly fell flat on her back and sighed dreamily.

"I don't think so. D'ya think he noticed me?"

Katherine sighed deeply as well. This same conversation had gone on between them many times before, every time Hazel had gotten a crush on some boy. She would rant on and on about them for weeks until she either gave up on them and moved on to somebody else, or the two started dating. Hazel had a reputation of being very promiscuous back at school, she had dated and kissed countless boys. Katherine had yet to have her first.

"He must've. He smiled, didn't he?" she said drearily. Hazel squealed excitedly,

"He _did_! Oh my gosh, his smile is _soo_ sweet!" she gushed, wrapping herself in her own arms.

"I guess," sighed Katherine staring up at the dappled canopy above, tiny circles of bright yellow light filtered through the leaves and danced on the ground and the two girls' arms. She had to admit, this island, or wherever they were, was very beautiful. She had secretly hoped that their stay would be like a vacation, from what she had seen there was plenty of food here. But she had drearily accepted the fact that being on the somewhat-island would be no different than her time at school. People shouting and pushing her around, and having to deal with Hazel's drama. On the other hand, she thought, there was no Lizzie, Megan, _or_ Kelly to shoot her nasty looks and make snide remarks when Hazel was distracted. At school, Hazel pushed her to tag along with her other friends, who only put up with her because they all worshiped Hazel. Even so, Katherine had always felt that when Hazel was around them, they tried their best to push her out of the picture. It was only when they were alone that Katherine could truly converse with her, and she was happy. She had always wanted to tell Hazel that the three girls hated her, but couldn't find the heart to do it. She sometimes became exasperated, though, at Hazel's obliviousness. Honestly, all _three_ of them had "forgotten" her birthday?! Didn't that seem just a tiny bit suspicious to her? Still, she and Hazel had been best friends since they had met, and had always been there for each other when either one hit a rough patch. Like when Hazel's cat died, and she couldn't come to school for weeks because she was crying so hard (Hazel had never been able to handle deaths, even when people died in _movies_ she cried for days after wards)? And just _who_ comforted her and brought her presents and her schoolwork? Certainly not Lizzie, Megan, or Kelly. Katherine sighed again, as Hazel babbled on about that Jack kid. She would have to put up with it, though. She always did.

**A/N: **Phew, first chapter done! Make sure you guys review and tell me what you think, reviews make me update _much_ faster!


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